Facebook Purges Over 80 Accounts in Sweeping Attack on the Alternative Media

Starting in June of 2018, Facebook began deleting pages with up to 40 million followers in an unprecedented assault on independent media outlets using the platform.

Jake Passi, the founder of the popular Facebook page Collectively Conscious and victim of the purge called the effort a “deleting rampage” and “a crime against humanity.”

A website known as Swapd which allows for the buying and selling of Facebook pages issued a statement confirming that the pages were in fact being taken down by Facebook.

After days of new reports coming in, we’re 100% sure Facebook is cleaning the house, hard. They are taking no hostages and deleting millions of fans without any hesitation. It doesn’t matter if your page is 50k or 40m, they’re all at risk. – Swapd.co

Several commenters claimed to have had their pages taken down as well, including one user who claimed to run 10 pages about “dogs, machines, trucks, [and] farming.”

It is unclear why legitimate pages are being removed, but according to a message sent to Swapd from one of their “clients,” Facebook is targeting “accounts partaking in ‘manufactured sharing behavior’ and any accounts linked to such behavior.”

They speculate that legitimate pages are being taken down as “collateral damage.”

In a post on the alternative social media site Minds.com, Jake listed almost 80 independent pages which were deleted by Facebook in June alone.

“Did you know that Facebook went on an alternative media page deleting rampage last month? In June they deleted (or unpublished indefinitely) 79 alternative media pages owned by my friends in the alternative media community. 80 including my own, Collectively Conscious.

Here’s a list of all the pages I know of which have been deleted or unpublished indefinitely:

This is a crime against humanity as far as I’m concerned. – Jake Passi

Most of the pages affected by the purge appear to be natural health and conspiracy oriented. However, this isn’t stopping the alternative media as the growing popularity of alt-tech sites like Minds are opening the door to less censored distribution of news and commentary.

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